Don’t Push Your Job Hunt Into 2025: December Is The perfect time To Pounce
If you think there’s no real point in getting stuck into a job search this side of Christmas, think again. In fact, December can be a really fruitful time to look for a new opportunity.
“That’s a January problem” is a common refrain this time of year, as many workers start to think about kicking back ahead of the festivities, aiming to do as little as they can before the winter break.
That directly translates into fewer active participants in the job market, meaning less competition, and more chances for you if you are on the hunt.
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●DevOps Engineer(Azure Devops), TELUS Digital, Noida
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Companies themselves will often use December as a way to use up remaining budget and hire for necessary staff before the new year (and new budget) kicks in. This can result in new job postings with hiring decisions being made swiftly this month. An added bonus is that due to a lull in applications, yours is more likely to get focused attention.
Bonnie Dilber, who is a recruiting leader at Zapier and a HR influencer on TikTok, explains why this is the case, based on her nine-plus years of experience.
“If a hiring manager posts a job in November, they are serious and urgent about hiring it,” she confirms, adding “Budgets turn over at the end of the year and some companies are set up so if they don’t make that hire within the fiscal year, then they lose that budget. So they’re going to want to close out the roles that they have opened.”
Dilber also deep dives into the reasons why there is less competition. “A lot of candidates actually opt out of interviewing this time of the year,” she says.
“Folks who are employed have end of year bonuses, they may have shares that are vesting. Often they’re not wanting to start a new job until sometime like February or March.”
The upshot? “Basically you have a situation at the end of the year where companies may have fewer roles posted, but they’re generally really urgent about closing out the ones they have posted, and you have less competition.”
A move makes sense
Additionally, moving jobs makes sense for the average employee. A recent report from KickResume food that only 17% of workers were promoted by their current company over the last five years, and that 58% have changed jobs rather than wait for a promotion in the last five years.
The average salary increase for job switchers is 14.8%, and those who stay in a job for more than two years tend to make less than those who go elsewhere. That’s because employers tend to offer smaller salary increments to existing staff, if they offer them at all.
For example, salary.com’s data shows that U.S. employers plan a median salary increase of 3.9% for 2025.
The statistics seem to make things fairly clear: if you want to make (significantly) more money, you’ll need to go and look for a new role. Before you take that step, you can try a couple of salary-raising tactics to boost your pay in your current role.
First, benchmark your salary. This is an essential piece of fact-finding, and helps you to understand whether you’re being paid under––or over––the odds. Company review websites such as Glassdoor is a good first port of call.
You can also ask colleagues who do similar roles what they’re being paid. Or, ask your peers in the same job at other companies for their salary scale and benefits. All of this will give you a better picture of what the baseline for your job is, and what is reasonable to expect.
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Next, ask for a meeting with your manager where you can discuss your salary expectations, and succinctly put forward your reasons for wanting a raise. Come prepared with facts and figures, explain how your work has benefited the company this year––if you can show percentage increases or how you’ve met or exceeded KPIs, then you’re giving concrete evidence of your worth.
It’s a good idea to keep in mind that there are other forms of compensation beyond salary, and a good package should include other elements that are of financial benefit to you, such as a good pension or 401(k) contribution, health insurance, travel or commuting benefits, or extra PTO days.
Jobs are, of course, not all about the money. If you do decide to seek a new role for 2025, then some of the other factors to consider are whether you’ll get to do interesting and engaging work, and you should also explore whether you’ll have the chance to learn, upskill and engage in professional development at this new job.